LED Taillight Conversion pics (stock housings)

[hackedxj]

Always thought CJ's with LED's looked great so I came up with this for my XJ,thought someone else might like it.
It's just 4 truck LED tailights implanted into my stock XJ lights. All 4 are red tailights, the top 2 double as brake lights, they burn brighter when the brake is pressed and the bottom two double as signal lights.

I left the side marker alone so it burns when the tailights are on. After the lights were finshed I tinted the housings, so when they're off, they're are glossy black, I hate the amber lens.

The pics don't do them justice, they are very bright. It took about 1 1/2 hours to do both, not counting the tint. I know this is not going to offer any protection or make it go any better and it's just a vain modification, just trying to be different, it's was just the only thing a CJ had on my XJ....lol. If anyone wants to try this I'll help ya if I can ..

 

[small pederson]

looks cool man

 

[jeeper821]

can ya email me some more info, i would like to try that.

[email protected]
thank's

 

[minerjeepguy]

Thats sweet man, could I get more info! [email protected]

 

[MrShoeBoy]

Tail lights look cool.

What fender flares are you running? Any pics of the front?

AARON

 

[tcm glx]

Those flares look like they are out of an Explorer Eddie Bauer...looks good, anymore people?

 

[Stick]

Great mod !!

 

[hackedxj]

Hey guys, to all the questions about the taillights, let me dig up the pics I took making them, I have them somewhere, try to post them tomorrow. I'd make a lame teacher.

For the flares, Yes they're Explorer but unlike the tailights they're a MAJOR PAIN to install. Here's some more pics with a side view. "Please excuse the mess we're under construction" as always. I'm moving the top portion of the hatch forward to have a small bed and a short opening hatch for summer rides.

Hey Stick, thanks for the compliment, how the Cheromanche conversion coming, I posted on your thread a few weeks ago.

 

[MK96XJ]

Awsome job on both the light and the flares. I look forward to seeing the write up.

Mike

 

[jpxj94]

I did the same thing with mine but I left the amber turn signal alone. Mine are just tail light and brake lights. but they still look really good and very bright. I just got out the dremel, cut a hole to fit the light in, hurculined back of the taillight, and left the sides red with the factory tail and brake light hooked up. I should be getting some pics soon.

 

[Safari Ary]

I saw your Jeep at Tellico the weekend of the Cherokee Crawl. I was impressed with how clean it was, but was scared at the lack of reinforcement after chopping the body. Have you done anything besides adding those pieces of square stock to support the rear edge of the roof?

Ary

 

[hackedxj]

I saw your Jeep at Tellico the weekend of the Cherokee Crawl. I was impressed with how clean it was, but was scared at the lack of reinforcement after chopping the body. Have you done anything besides adding those pieces of square stock to support the rear edge of the roof?

Ary

Yea, I was there, just ran 4 & 8 trying to avoid alot of twisting, mostly just checking out the other rigs. I had just cut it week earlier. I have since remove all of the post behind the rear door except the jamb and rebuild it with parts from the rear hatch opening. The post now has extra sheetmetal gussets sandwiched between the inner and outer posts with 3/16ths corner gussets in the cab. I have now temporarily cross braced it between the corner gussets and the rear floor belt mounts, that's the bars you see in the first pics. If you look close the rear hatch opening is in place, it really stiffened it back up.

I'll have to wait till I finish the hatch and partition before I can cage it, the tubes will be going through the partition. If the cage comes out right, should be stronger than ever. You can bet I'll finish it before cool weather, this is my daily driver, lol. Great seeing all the Xj's there. What your rig look like?

 

[HighTop]

Hey Hacked,
What happened to our pics and write-up? I was looking forward to seeing how you did this taillight swap and didn't want to bother you indiviaully if you were going to post it. If you don't mind could you share that info with me?
[email protected]

 

[NHXJer]

It would be awesome to see more info on the flare installs, too!

Chris

 

[BrianJr]

Nice looking XJ. I would really love to hear more about how you installed the explorer flares. I assume that you had to bend them somehow.

-Brian

For the flares, Yes they're Explorer but unlike the tailights they're a MAJOR PAIN to install.

 

[BskisXJ]

hackedxj,
Lights look great! Where did you pick up the LED's.

I am very interested in cutting my rear as well. I talked to another guy who did the same, he said it took him a couple of days to cut everything and put the hatch in place.

How did you frame it up? Do you have any pics of the rear. Would really like to see.

 

[hackedxj]

Sorry about the delay, had some unespected stuff come up had to take care of it.I try to answer your ?'s and explain the lights as best as I can when I get home to night,thanks guys .

 

[hackedxj]

Sorry, I couldn't find the pics so here goes.
I got the LED's off Ebay, think they're TMI brand? , 22.50 a pair "buy it now", just like the style, have 19 bulbs with a magnifying lens over each bulb that makes them stupid bright.

I just had a rough idea how I was going to do the mounting when I bought them, when they came I found the overall diameter to be around 4 1/4 inches with about a 1/8th inch groove around the outer edge of the lens, so the outer most part of the lens is exactly 4 inches.

To make the two holes in the lens I used a 4 inch hole saw in a drill press set at a slow speed. I then used a bur head bit in an air cutoff tool(a dremel would also work) and a pair of side cutter pliers to cut out the back of the light, just cutting out enough to slip the LEDs through.

It'll take a little grinding/sanding around the inside edge of the holes you've made in the taillight lens to get them the right thickness ,when you've done this the tailight len will fit into the 1/8th groove in the LED's alowing the outer most 4 inch part of the lens to fit flush with the outer face of the taillight lens.

After dropping the LEDs in the back side of the taillight housings with the lens laying face down, I shot some quick set 2 part urethane used to repair plastic bumpers in a few places around the LED casings bonding them to the tailight len.I used it because it's thick like windshield urethane and I didn't want it seeping through to the outer part of the lens.Quick set windshield urethane would also be a good choice just slower drying .I could have spent some more time and made some type of mounting system, but I figure LED's are suppose to last forever, if one goes bad I can easliy cut the urethane and slap in another one, I just like that it was super fast and holds the lights solid with no movement.

The wiring is very simple, the LED lights are marked

If your not sure about all the drill pressing , sanding and fitting part, just skip that and cut out the back of the taillight and slip in the LED's and urethane them in place , works fine just a bit distorted by the stock len being over it. If your not going to tint them, an amber lens in the lower section would look better.

Reading over this I just realized I'm dyslexic! lol.........If you get in trouble, help you if I can. I'll get some better pics of the flares and rear, yea I know my photography is lausy too!

 

[Sephrion]

what size are those LED's (4"???) and about how bright are they? a buddy that i wheel with has some 19 LED taillights on his CJ-7 and they're almost blinding at stoplight distances.